City spins Apple layoffs
Just what do the recent layoff of 174 employees at Apple's Elk Grove facility really mean? Well that all depends on who you listen to o...
https://www.elkgrovenews.net/2008/05/city-spins-apple-layoffs_05.html
Just what do the recent layoff of 174 employees at Apple's Elk Grove facility really mean? Well that all depends on who you listen to or where you read about it.
Using NPR's local outlet, KXJZ, Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis tried to put the best possible spin he could. Davis was quoted saying:
"It hurts to lose jobs from one of our major employers. Our heart goes out to those residents that are losing their job."
Never losing an opportunity to spin, Davis went on to say:
" We feel pretty optimistic that they’ll be able to find other jobs in Elk Grove simply because the economic activity that’s coming down the line in Elk Grove looks real positive."
Meanwhile, a couple other local media outlets had some rather downbeat economic news for Elk Grove. In their story on the layoffs, the Bee noted that along with high foreclosures, retail vacancies have dramatically increased:
Still, the job cuts come at a particularly difficult time. Real estate analysts say Elk Grove is doing worse than most other parts of the Sacramento region. Vacancies at its smaller strip malls were three times as high as the region's average at the end of 2007.
Further along in the Bee's story Davis cited the construction of Elk Grove's long-awaited mall, The Promenade as positive economic sign for the community.
News10.net also ran a story on the layoffs. In their version they talked to two laid-off workers who said:
Two workers from sales said they made $100,000 last year in sales and commission. They said they were told earlier the commission jobs would be replaced by flat salary jobs at $12 an hour.
We can't help but wonder if these two workers will be applying for retail jobs at The Promenade?
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“Two workers from sales said they made $100,000 last year in sales and commission. They said they were told earlier the commission jobs would be replaced by flat salary jobs at $12 an hour.”
A “salesman” is a clerk on a commission, and a commission is an inducement to lie to the suckers.
No explanation was given as to how much of the $100,000 was salary and how much commission, but the $12 per hour pay rate that was left over after the cuts is a pretty good clue.
Assuming a 40-hour work week at $12 an that works out to the princely sum of $24,000 annual. The simple mathematics of subtraction tells us these smiley-face sales schmucks were dragging down $76,000 in commish.
Apple charged more for its products so let's say every item sold went for, say, $3,000, $3K, 3Gs.
Fifty 40-hour weeks of work comes to 2,000 hours of plying the customers for an extra 38 extra dollars an hour for telling customers that:
“This is a very popular item. All the kids are buying it… I can’t, but a manual comes with it… You try it while I answer this other customer’s question… Limited one-year warranty… Anything goes wrong, bring it back to the service department… Why the low price? Uh, this particular model’s being phased out. An even better one is coming in two weeks.”
'Anonymous' adds to your gloom:
Nationwide it's looking bad:
Home prices posted their worst quarterly performance in over a decade during the first quarter, according to a report released Tuesday morning by real estate information Web site Zillow.com. More than half of those who purchased a home in 2006 now owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth, the company said — surely ominous news for mortgage execs fretting over the potential for so-called borrower “walk-aways.”
Home values in the first quarter of 2008 fell 1.6 percent from the fourth quarter and 7.7 percent from the year-ago quarter, marking the most significant year-over-year decline in the past 12 years, Zillow said.
And in California it's even:
For homeowners who purchased in some of the most volatile markets, such as many parts of California and Florida, as well as Phoenix and Las Vegas, rates of negative equity can be twice the national median and, in some cases, as high as 95 percent. For example, in the first quarter, Zillow said that Las Vegas home values fell 25 percent year-over-year and nine out of 10 (89.9%) homeowners who purchased in 2006, when the median down payment was 2 percent, now owe more than their home is worth.
Despite the incredible price drops in many key markets, Zillow also said Tuesday that nearly 3 in 4 borrowers believe their home has increased in value over the past 12 months — yes, really — which means that many homeowners clearly have not yet come to terms with market reality.
See:
http://www.housingwire.com/2008/05/06/more-than-half-of-2006-vintage-now-underwater-zillow-says/
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